Road surface and preservative.



3 No Drawing,

' UNITE STATES PA E ,oEFIoE.

HENRY a. WARDELL, on NEW YORK, N. Y., nssxenon 'ro H. w. JOHNS-MANVILLE COMPANY, A conronn'rron OFNEW YORK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY R. WARDnLL, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America,

residing at New York city, borough of Manhattan, county and State-of New York, .have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road Surfaces and Preservatives, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to compositions for surfacing, repairing and preservmg a smooth surface on roads. It comprises an improved asphaltic base oil artificially produced which is easily applied to the road surface and soon forms a solid asphalt cement, campacting and solidifying the mineral content of the roadbed and forming a smooth, solid surface thereon.

Heretofore it has been customary to use residual oils for surfacing roads, which oils are produced by distilling the lighter constituent from the crude oils obtained from Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Oh1o, or-

othernative oils.. The constituents usable as kerosene, naphtha and the like are dlstllled over from these natural oils until the residu-' um has a density of from 13 to 24 degrees I Baum, and this residuum is used for road surfacing. The base of this oil is not asphaltic, but is a greasy sludge, not cementi-v tious in its nature. The oily constituents of this natural residuum are-not volatile and evaporate slowly if at all under exposure to the atmosphere. They remain on the road surface for weeks and months, forming an emulsion with the sand and dust particles, thereby creating a greasy mixture of mud, and semifiuid oil which is.a source of danger to vehicles and disgust to pedestrians. Practically the only beneficial result of the use of this natural oil residuum is to lay the dust. Otherwise the road bedis little improved by its use. I

; I have discovered that if a true asphaltic base oil be produced by dissolving natural solid asphaltic materials in a volatilevehicle' such as naphtha, and applied to the road surface, the vehicle will practically volatilize in less than 48 hours, leaving the solid asphalt-ic base intimately mingled with the sand, gravel or broken stone of the road bed, and forming a firmly cemented smooth surface which is free from dust. The surface layerthus formed is as tenacious, efiicient and durable as an ordinary asphalt pavement.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 16, 1912. Serial No. 709,790.

' Patented A r. 8, 1913.

Among the characteristic features of invention are, first, a solid base .of natural asphalt, second, a solvent comprising a true asphaltic base oil, and third, a volatile vehicle which holds the other elements in solution until they have'been evenly distributed over the road surface and incorporated with.

using t e same, according to my present in formation, is as follows: I take: 1 part by "weight of Trinidad manjack; 1' part by weight of gilsonite; 2 parts by weight of hydrolene, which is a residual pitch derived from the distillation of Texas oil; 85; parts by weight of Texas oil, known as mosaic oil, which has a density of about I3de'gres Baum. These may be mixed by heating and stirring and when mixed in the above stated proportion will form an asphaltic base compound having a consistency represented on a standard penetrating machine b .a penetration of 112 at a temperature of .7; degrees Fahrenheit. To this base, while warm, I add from 3%,; to 4;; parts of naphtha and incorporate bystirring. This produces an artificial, asphaltic base oil, of a density of from 13 to 23 degrees Baum, '(according to how much naphtha is used) which has "much the same appearance as. the natural residuum heretofore used for road surfacing purposes. My artificially produced oil, however, has the advantages due to the fact that it is composed of a solution .of materials having the extreme characteristics of a solid, cementitiousasphaltic body on the one hand and a li ht, highlyvolatlle vehicle on the 1 other; w ile the natural residuum heretofore used has little real as haltic content,

and little really volatile oi, bein mainly sludges com osed of intermediate oils an Wllldll will neither volatilize nor solidify under atmospheric conditions, but persist in the form of a reasy slime.

The artificisil to the surface of the road by pouring from a potor tank, using about a gallon to the square yard of surface, in the usual manner, the same as natural oil's'are applied. The material must be 'at a temperature sufficient 011 so produced is applied to give it the desired fluidity to run easily and evenly. If 4%; parts of naphtha are used the product is sufiiciently fluid at summer temperature, say 77 degrees Fahrenheit. If only 3%; arts of naphtha are used, the product shoulid be heated to a tempera ture of from l60to 200 degrees Fahrenheit to give it the needed fluidity. The material thus applied at or' near atmospheric temperature produces quite as rapid a cementing action on the mineral content as would ordinary asphalt applied at the higher temperatures necessary for melting it. Thus considerable saving .of expense results in that the heating of the material may be entirely omitted or carried on only to a low degree.

By the term naphtha, herein used, I mean the densest of the hydrocarbon fluids volatilizing by exposure to the atmosphere. It is the commercial product which is lighter than fuel oil, but denser than benzin or gasolene. This serves as a solvent or vehicle in Which the pure asphaltic base is suspended so as to ermit its even application to the road sur ace. If the road is Wet the naphtha also serves to cut into the moisture on the surfaces .of the mineral particles and so insure their firm adhesion to the cementing body formed by the asphalt content. The naphtha entirely evaporates in about 48 hours, leaving the asphalt base firmly binding the mineral content of the road surface together in a smooth solid body practically the same thing as a good asphalt pavement, which maintains the qualities of hardness and toughness in both 1 winter and summer. The resultant road surface can of course be im roved by adding a top dressing of clean san gravel or stone screenings, in the usual way, immediately after application of my compound to the road bed.

While I have given above the formula best adapted to carry out my invention, other combinations ofnatural asphalt and asphaltic base oils might be used and suspended in other volatile vehicles besides those before mentioned, to produce my improved result to a less perfect degree, so long as the liquid vehicle was sufliciently volatile to pass off in a short time, and the asphalt base sufficiently stable and cementitious to form a hard, tough and durable road surface out of the mineral particles of the road bed incorporated therewith.

Having, therefore, described my invention, I claim:

1. A road surfacing composition comprising natural solid as halt dissolved in an asphaltic base oil an suspended in a volatile liquid vehicle.

2. A road surfacing composition comprising one part of Trinidad manjack, one part of gilsonite and two parts of hydrolene, dissolved in about eight parts of mosaic oil and suspended in about three or four parts of naphtha.

' HENRY awAannLL.

Witnesses:

ERNEST SEARING, J. S. CoRRALL. 

